The COMMunicationS Diskette
Originated by
R.S. Hafner
Livermore, CA
September, 1985
The following is a breakdown of what is contained on this diskette. Included
are verbose listings of the various .ARC files and comments on the sub-files
themselves.
Executable images---files with a .EXE or .COM extension---will run on the
Rainbow under MS-DOS, version 2.11. The .ARC files were produced using the ARC
utility, version 4.10, which is contained on the UTILS-1 diskette.
Comments are those of the originator of this diskette and do not necessarily
reflect the comments, or opinions, of DECUS.
**** AC.ARC ****
Version Unknown
Name Length Stowage SF Size now Date Time CRC
============ ======== ======== ==== ======== ========= ====== ====
AC.EXE 15360 Squeezed 12% 13548 27 Jun 85 1:22a B0A8
An Area Code finder program written by Marty Smith, AC can be used in several
different formats: Enter AC xxx, where xxx is the Area Code or three letter
state name; enter AC and the two letter state postal abbreviation (i.e., TX for
Texas, CA for California, etc.); enter the one or two word state name (i.e., AC
California, AC New*Jersey, etc); or enter AC * for the full list of Area codes,
state names, and state name abbreviations.
**** DAC.ARC ****
Version 1.5
Name Length Stowage SF Size now Date Time CRC
============ ======== ======== ==== ======== ========= ====== ====
DAC.COM 59392 Squeezed 18% 49269 21 Jun 85 11:38p 2781
A Dialer, Address book and Calander utility with features similar to those of
ALL-IN-ONE, DAC is a menu-driven program that was written by Jeffrey Miller.
Deceptively easy to use, the heart DAC is an integrated database which is
created the first time the program is run. The database, which consists of the
four files MASTER.DAT, MASTER.IXC, MASTER.IXN and MASTER.IXD, allow DAC to be
used as an excellent vehicle for communicating person-to-person.
**** DECMINI.ARC ****
Version 3.2
Name Length Stowage SF Size now Date Time CRC
============ ======== ======== ==== ======== ========= ====== ====
DECMINI.DOC 42388 Crunched 60% 17249 21 Jun 85 11:57p E5DE
DECMINI.EXE 44672 Crunched 21% 35429 17 Jun 85 9:55a BF1F
Also known as `MINITEL,' DECMINI is Tom Jenning's miniature version of `TELINK'
for the Rainbow. The .DOCs are great, and the .EXE is probably great, but,
as of this writing, the full power of DECMINI has yet to be explored by this
user.
Note: According to Guy Stafano Romano of the San Francisco `HELPLINE,' one of
the earlier versions of DECMINI (Version 3.0(??)) contained a substantial
number of bugs. In what little testing of DECMINI this writer has done,
whatever bugs were there are gone from Version 3.2.
**** DIALER.ARC ****
Version of
2 August 1985
Name Length Stowage SF Size now Date Time CRC
============ ======== ======== ==== ======== ========= ====== ====
DIAL.HLP 1408 Crunched 30% 993 26 Aug 85 11:15p 4F21
FIDO.LIS 35480 Crunched 43% 20868 4 Sep 85 9:48p 15A6
FIDO.NBR 1536 Crunched 10% 1385 26 Aug 85 11:16p 3A55
RBDIALER.COM 19840 Squeezed 10% 17862 26 Aug 85 11:14p D90F
RBFIDO.LIS 5248 Crunched 37% 3342 26 Aug 85 11:43p 8E2D
RBFIDOS.NBR 1404 Crunched 15% 1196 30 Aug 85 11:40p A07A
A brand new version of Doug Brantley's Rainbow Dialer program, RBDIALER is an
extremely useful program. `Help' is built-in with the automatic inclusion of
DIAL.HLP (the .HLP and the .COM files MUST be in the same directory), but the
creation of a default phone number list has been left to the user's discretion.
On startup, RBDIALER looks for a default file named `DIAL.NBR'. If the default
file is not found, the user is asked if he/she wants to create it. With a `no'
response, the user is then asked for an alternative filename. A carriage return
brings you to the main menu.
Helpful Hints: If you are a general purpose FIDO Board user, rename FIDO.NBR,
DIAL.NBR. (FIDO.NBR, which was part of the package originally obtained by this
writer, is a sequential list of the FIDO boards, BBDs 1-40.) If you are a
Rainbow specific FIDO Board user, rename RBFIDO.NBR to DIAL.NBR. (RBFIDO.NBR
is the RBDIALER equivalent of Rob Elliot's most recent Rainbow 100 Bulletin
Board listing (see below). If you want to do mixing and matching, print the
two .LIS files and create phone lists to your heart's content. (FIDO.LIS is
Tom Jenning's 9 August version of all FIDO boards, world-wide; RBFIDO.LIS is
Rob Elliot's most recent list, in its original format.)
Additional Note: The only obvious disadvantage to DIALER is that, after
exiting, the screen is left in the BOLD text mode. Use RESETRB or SCREENRB
(both of which are available on the UTILS-2 Diskette) to reset the screen to
its normal, default setting.
**** LCTERM.ARC ****
Version 3.30
Name Length Stowage SF Size now Date Time CRC
============ ======== ======== ==== ======== ========= ====== ====
LCTERM.EXE 65280 Squeezed 24% 49985 17 Jun 85 2:19p 94CC
LCTERM.MEM 32384 Crunched 61% 12933 16 Jun 85 2:08a 0E56
LCTERM.NEW 1920 Squeezed 24% 1463 16 Jun 85 2:07a 1501
The latest version of Larry Campbell's, excellent terminal emulation program.
Unique among the public-domain terminal emulators, LCTERM supports both KERMIT
and XMODEM file transfer protocols, it supports manual and automatic Script
File processing, and it supports, beginning with Version 3.28, the VT2xx series
special function keys.
Note: Function key binding files created with earlier versions of LCTERM are
no longer compatible with Versions 3.28 or 3.30.
**** LOGIN.ARC ****
Version Unknown
Name Length Stowage SF Size now Date Time CRC
============ ======== ======== ==== ======== ========= ====== ====
LOGIN.ASM 10368 Crunched 44% 5873 22 Jun 85 0:18a D002
Written by Jay Jervey, LOGIN is a `MUST' for communicating with your Rainbow
remotely. LOGIN provides protection for your Rainbow by: 1) requiring a
password before exiting to MS-DOS; 2) not echoing your password; and 3) using
direct console I/O so Ctrl/C will not break out to MS-DOS.
For a more complete description, read the introductory statements in LOGIN.ASM.
**** MSKERMIT.ARC ****
Version 2.26
Name Length Stowage SF Size now Date Time CRC
============ ======== ======== ==== ======== ========= ====== ====
MSKERMIT.DOC 104704 Crunched 52% 50799 28 Jun 85 0:43a DF8C
MSKERMIT.EXE 73864 Squeezed 63% 27399 28 Jun 85 0:44a 64BD
MSKERMIT.UPD 6016 Crunched 37% 3848 28 Jun 85 0:23a 91E0
MSRBEMAC.INI 1920 Crunched 39% 1182 28 Jun 85 0:29a 7013
KERMIT for MS-DOS.... Between the .DOC and .UPD files, this is one program
which has been thoroughly documented. Run MSKERMIT.INI to initialize KERMIT
for your Rainbow.
**** PHONE.ARC ****
Version 1.0
Name Length Stowage SF Size now Date Time CRC
============ ======== ======== ==== ======== ========= ====== ====
PHONE.DOC 3456 Crunched 48% 1811 19 Jun 85 10:47p 4E93
PHONE.EXE 17792 Crunched 33% 12033 19 Jun 85 10:47p FA3C
PHONE is a very handy, Phone Book Search program which searches a user-defined
phone book for input entry strings. The default phone book, normally named
`PHONE.TXT,' can be created with any standard text editor, and there are
absolutely no restrictions as to the format of PHONE.TXT. PHONE supports the
use of wildcards and, because it makes use of the `Soundex Algorithm,' PHONE
will find matches even if you (slightly) misspell your entry.
Note: Handy though it may be, PHONE is a text string finder, only; PHONE does
not contain, nor was it intended to contain, any part of an auto-dialer
program.
***** End of COMMS.TXT *****